The show was not bad... necessarily, but when it comes to pure filmmaking craft the movie adaptation was so much better. It was like a character-actor's paradise. Jim Carrey, Timothy Spall, Jude Law, Billy Connolly, even Thomas Newman's score are just palely imitated in this version. Barry Sonnenfeld went so tongue-and-cheek with the style that I wouldn't even call it dark. There were some genuinely heart-felt moments in the film but nothing struck a chord with me in the series. The benefits here are that the whole series feels more thought out, less crammed together, and all things considered a little better written than even the books were. There's certainly a lot to like but it really made me realize how much stronger of a director Brad Silberling is to Sonnenfeld (although that's not saying much). Oh, and anything to do with Sunny, K. Todd Freeman's Poe, and Olaf's henchmen is cringe-inducingly bad. EDIT: Having said all that, if I had seen this show when I was eleven it would've been my favorite thing ever.